NUS President, Professor Tan Eng Chye,
Dr S. Vasoo, Emeritus Professor at the Department of Social Work, NUS,
Distinguished Guests,
Introduction
1. A very good morning to all of you.
2. I’m very privileged to be here to join you for this launch of Management Issues in Social Services, and even more delighted to see pioneer leaders, academics, and social work practitioners all united by this commitment to strengthen our social service sector. And as Prof Vasoo mentioned earlier, when you think of the social service sector, you tend to think of volunteers, charities, programmes and fundraising, but actually the social service sector is so much more. It is important, tackling deep-rooted issues and looking far forward into the future as well as the management, coordination and integration of services across the sectors and Government. This book cannot come at a sooner time. I want to thank Prof Vasoo and all the book contributors, for bringing together your deep experience and expertise to benefit our sector.
3. The social issues that we face today have become increasingly complex. In the early days, they were very challenging. Today, they carry a different texture, and they are defined across the board by complexity. Whether it is the opportunities or the challenges of aging, rising singlehood, greater social risk of polarisation, geopolitical impact on harmony in society, the divide between the “haves” and “have nots” being amplified in daily life and on social media, the risk of social media and artificial intelligence on social cohesion, the challenges of families facing more complex, interlocking issues, the danger of focusing on symptoms which are important to tackle, rather than identifying invisible causes that underline many of these challenges. These and more, are the trends that present real pressures on individuals and families here in Singapore and around the world.
4. You will see that our social service sector has been evolving in tandem – learning, adapting, coming into communities of practice, embracing innovation and working more closely across disciplines and across communities. This book offers important insights built on depth of expertise on how we can continue to build our capacity, how we can deepen our partnerships and how we can optimise impact given the limited resources that our city state has, to respond to changing needs and ever more complex social challenges.
Good Management Sustains Impact
5. The Government has been working closely with our sector to support Singaporeans in realising their potential and to better share the fruits of our nation’s success. In fact, just this week, you would have read the occasional paper by the Ministry of Finance examining income growth, inequality and social mobility over the past decade. The first such occasional paper on inequality was published in 2015 and many of us were waiting with bated breath to see how things have progressed some 10 years on. The findings show that we have made good progress. Households saw real income growth, with lower-income households experiencing higher real income growth, and income inequality has continued to narrow.
6. This affirms the efforts that we collectively as a sector and more have been making over the past decade. But the report also reminds us that we must not be complacent. In fact, there was an editorial today in The Straits Times that asked us to look and dig deeper into the report to understand the direction that we are heading and whether the approaches remain sustainable. As our economy matures, pressures relating to inequality and social mobility can only intensify, as they have in other advanced economies. We must therefore keep adapting our approaches as circumstances change, to build on our past good practices, by reviewing what works and where we can continue doing better.
7. For example, one major strength we have in Singapore is our cohesion and trust that has enabled us to collaborate more intensively. This strength has also powered some of our social and healthcare innovations that seek to tackle some of these deep-seated challenges. Take ComLink+ for example, an effort to integrate support around families rather than around individuals. Started some years back, ComLink+ is our effort to find this uniquely Singapore approach to tackling challenges for which we can’t quite seem to find good solutions around the world.
8. Another example is Age Well SG. Age Well SG allows us to marshal the community, our healthcare practitioners in hospitals, polyclinics and step-down care institutions, our GPs, and our social service agencies who are committed to helping our seniors age with dignity and good health, to work together to try to blunt the curve or the impact of chronic illnesses on aging, and improve health span to try to match lifespan. All these would not have been possible if we only look at the symptoms of ill health and only pour resources into tackling treatment, instead of looking upstream at preventive health. This is a goal that is easy to define, yet difficult to achieve, and possible in Singapore because of trust and our willingness to work together.
9. My colleague MOS Goh Pei Ming is leading a group comprising representatives from MSF, MOE, MOH, and many other agencies to better support individuals and families who have special needs and with disability. We will not become complacent and will continue to seek to improve our policies as well as operational and infrastructure support on the ground to better enable individuals with disabilities in Singapore to thrive and to find meaningful employment and activities, especially in the post-18 space.
10. These three are some of the uniquely Singapore approaches to tackling some deep-seated challenges that we face in Singapore today. And that, I think, is one approach that will possibly give us some opportunity to blunt the challenges of these social issues and to enable Singaporeans to live with dignity and to a live good life.
Leadership Rejuvenation: Developing the Next Generation of Leaders
11. Looking ahead, the leadership, governance and organisational capability that Prof Vasoo and his authors focus on in the book play a crucial role in enabling teams in Government and the social services sector to coordinate comprehensive support around Singaporeans and their families’ unique needs and aspirations. One of the key themes you will see in this important book is leadership rejuvenation in the social services sector. Indeed, many organisations today are shaped by leaders who have served with dedication and deep commitment over the years.
12. But at the same time, as the operating environment continues to expand in scale and complexity, they create new demands but open new possibilities. This underscores the importance of preparing the next generation of social sector leaders early to carry the work forward, never taking the status quo as given, but always ensuring that there is a diverse pipeline that will help our organisations remain responsive and resilient.
13. This can be done through mentorship, management skills training, and providing deliberate opportunities for the younger generation of social service leaders to help them grow and collaborate across agencies to practice more integrated support. Smooth leadership transitions across social service agencies, big or small, is critical because everyone in the sector is important and no social service agency is ever too small to have leadership not count for all of us.
Staying People-Centred and Community-Centred
14. The book also reminds us of the risk of becoming overly task- or contract-driven. What keeps the sector dynamic and effective is this continued focus on people and communities, which as Prime Minister mentioned recently, a “We First” society.
15. Another challenge highlighted within Prof Vasoo’s book is uneven participation. For example, lower-income families being under-represented in community activities. Addressing this challenge of uneven participation requires us to journey with the families to understand their realities and to empower them to overcome challenges and realise their potential.
16. That is why social service integration is so important. Because it ensures that we tackle uneven participation and unequal access to opportunities that should be available to all, particularly the lower income. And our focus on being family-centred, instead of agency-centric or policy-centred, is an important move that is still a work in progress.
17. Looking ahead, what should management in social service also look at? As much as Government and the economic sectors are looking at the advantages of AI in helping to power their respective sectors, the social sector – being high touch, high feel, where being present is always critical – we need to consider how can artificial intelligence and other forms of technology augment rather than act against the imperatives of the sector and the direction in which we are seeking. I think this challenge should be amongst some of the top-of-mind issues that the social sector leadership in Government, the social sector and the academia should be exploring. And we look forward to this book leading the way and providing insights into how we should be shaping the sector.
Closing
18. To conclude, I would like to congratulate Prof Vasoo and all the contributors on this valuable addition to the literature for the sector. This book Management Issues in Social Services reminds us that good intentions must be matched with good management. Both of these are essential for lasting impact. I wish that this book sparks rich discussions that will inspire new ideas and purposeful action in boards all across the sector and in the C-suite of our social service sector. The road ahead will be challenging, but we are confident that the social service sector in Singapore can continue to adapt, learn and respond with compassion, heart, and professionalism.
19. So thank you all once again and congratulations.